


CIA AU Pt.3

by TaraTyler



Series: Curious Archer Shots [15]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: CIA AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 18:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16686472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraTyler/pseuds/TaraTyler





	CIA AU Pt.3

Reflective blankets were wrapped around the kids in the back of an ambulance when Tilly got to see them in person for the first time. They seemed a bit scrawnier, bruised, and dirty; but no worse for wear. Agents were getting as much information out of them as they could while what happened was fresh in their minds. Tilly was taking it all in, still breathing heavily and scanning the crowd. She did her best to convince herself she wasn’t, but she was looking for one face in particular with bated breath.

An arrow sunk into the dirt between her feet with a thud. Tilly began to berate herself internally in advance of reading the note attached. She already had a guess of what it would say. Tilly read the slip of paper attached to the arrow as she waved off the concerned agents who had noticed without looking up at them. She slipped it into her pocket and pulled the ankle monitor off the arrow as well. Tilly groaned, knowing she was going to catch hell for this later on.

\-----/////-----

“She did get you The Blind Witch, sir. We had been hunting down that old bat much longer than anyone in any country was looking for Robin Hood.” Rogers argued on her behalf. Tilly had been a bit surprised at his going to bat for her when he had never quite completely supported her plan in the first place. “One was an actual danger to civilians, sir, and the other was a thief who has taken pride in never seriously harming anyone during her crimes. I would call it a fair trade.”

Weaver bristled at that remark. He had that particular plotting and scheming look on his face that Tilly had come to fear when directed at her and appreciate when it was reserved for the bad guys. Tilly had a healthy respect for Captain Weaver even if she didn’t like him much as a person. He had a tendency to be a bit too cavalier with the lives they were responsible for. The way he made ‘deals’ was very much not okay in Tilly’s book either.

Tilly gritted her teeth and prepared herself to take whatever Weaver was about to dish out. She could tell already that he was building up to a lecture. Despite how angry that had a tendency to make her, Tilly had gotten pretty good at shoving all of those emotions deep down. It didn’t help that she was still quite annoyed by Margot’s escape after rescuing the kidnapped children. Tilly had been kicking herself ever since it had happened. Beyond the arrow and the note with an apology and cell phone number, Margot hadn’t left a trace behind. Tilly had run all three for evidence and found nothing. She hadn’t expected to find anything either. When Margot meant to disappear… she disappeared thoroughly.

“Sir, I am more than willing to take responsibility for everything that happened on my watch. I just hope you will take all of the good to have come out of this into account .” Tilly said as her only plea for leniency. If she could go afterward and hunt down/capture Margot when the punishment was over, she would really appreciate that. Tilly owed her one for the embarrassment ‘Robin Hood’ had caused her.

“I am going to give you exactly three months to recover the last asset… code-named Robin Hood. If you are not able to do so, you will be sent back to your desk job and red-flagged so hard that you won’t ever make it out of that cubicle again. You will have the full force of any government agency you require at your back, wherever you might find her. This is the world's top art thief you have allowed to escape, again, I might add.” Weaver stood and paced behind his desk, slamming three folders containing the inter-agency agreements down for her to sign. “Your job depends on a successful recovery for the duration of this mission. Your code-name will be Alice.”

Tilly nodded her agreement. She _was_ the foremost expert on Margot Mills, but the other girl was equally talented. As capable as Tilly was at finding those who didn’t want to be found, Margot was her match when it came to vanishing. If she weren’t on a tight schedule with a very strict deadline, Tilly might have found the chasing fun. It was as though they were playing a game of hide and seek where the only limits were the ends of the Earth itself. The operative word being ‘if’. Alice truly loved her job.

\-----/////-----

Margot was disappointed to have not received a text or a call from Tilly. She knew it was a long shot, but the connection she had felt couldn’t have been one-sided. Sending the agent that arrow had been a real risk, but if it paid off at all it would be worth it. The strangest part of this experience had been how much Margot had enjoyed rescuing those children. Maybe it had to do with helping Tilly and maybe it had to do with actually being the good guy for once. She wasn’t sure why the rescue affected her and was definitely going to give the matter further thought. Still, before she could shift her focus, Margot knew Tilly or her people would be hunting her down and trying to cage her again.

Tilly had once more covered an entire boardroom in her files on Margot. She had put her picture up on the monitor and covered up all of the walls in her notes, case files, and every piece of information she had managed to pick up on Margot Mills, aka Robin Hood. Some might have thought her a bit obsessive as she went over the material and evidence she had collected. Tilly had rarely gone home, or ate, or cleaned up in her fervor to hunt down Margot. She knew she had to find the thief quickly or Robin Hood would completely vanish off of the map.

When Tilly woke up the next morning she had been sleeping face down on a notebook. The phone number Margot had left for Tilly was smudged from something that definitely wasn’t drool, but it didn’t really matter anyway. Tilly had memorized the digits long ago. There was a distinct possibility it wasn’t even Margot’s cell phone number, it could before something else. In her sleepy haze, Tilly decided to at least send a message to check.

-Robin, is that you?

Tilly texted as a start.

She immediately felt like a complete fool. Tilly tossed her phone to the opposite side of the table and neglected to check for a reply as she continued her work to narrow down Margot’s location. No one in any of the agencies that made up the task force whose mission it was to apprehend ‘Robin Hood’ ever came close to discovering Margot’s base of operations. Then again, none of them had ever seen her face or learned her name before either. Tilly knew that she wasn’t just any agent and if anyone could do this, it was her.

“Hey there, Wonderland.” Tilly’s phone said with a text message from Margot. Tilly was immediately shocked by the reference to her code name.

 

“How did you know about my code name?” Tilly texted her back, saving the name as Robin in her cell phone. She was suspicious but not worried. Margot Mills did not scare her in the slightest. Tilly was only just realizing this.

“I’m the one who gave Rogers the idea, on one of the rare occasions you actually went home. I mentioned the resemblance in passing and I overheard his discussion that it was the perfect code name. He’s right. It’s perfect for you.” The text came back and Tilly couldn’t help but smirk to herself. She wasn’t wrong.

“You know I’m going to have to find you.” was all Tilly could come up with to reply. It was a statement and not a question. She had a feeling Margot would understand. Tilly also had a feeling Margot felt as though it was a game of some kind. She was completely ready to play but would be fine if Margot just came in quietly.

Tilly suddenly had a thought and the puzzle pieces fell together. She shoved books, notes, and papers out of her way to get to the map at the bottom of the pile. She grabbed a marker behind her ear and circled a borough. With everything narrowed down that far, farther than an entire team had managed before her, she knew it was only a matter of time before she finally caught Margot. Tilly grinned to herself before running out to find Rogers. Maybe this could be fun after all.


End file.
